Artists

Vertical Tabs

YOANN BOURGEOIS

Celebrated around the world as a unique, innovative and groundbreaking artist, Yoann Bourgeois is hailed for his spellbinding, dazzling, and though-provoking shows that mix acrobatics, music, dance, theatre, and circus arts. Wishing to challenge the rules of gravity and equilibrium, Yoann Bourgeois possesses an artistic language that can be defined both as fascinating and surrealistic. Exploring the relationship between earth and sky, and between dream and reality, his award-winning shows have been featured at BAM in New York, the Barbican Centre in London, the Pantheon in Paris and the Berliner Festspiele.

A native of France, he starts his training in the field of circus arts at a young age, as part of the Cirque Plume school. A true prodigy, he then starts his formal studies at the Circus Center in Châlons-en-Champagne, and later at the National Center for Contemporary Dance in Angers, France. Fascinated by the laws of gravity, he collaborates with artists that specialise in this field, such as Alexandre del Perrugia et Kitsou Dubois. At an early age, Yoann Bourgeois joins the renowned dance company of the French choreographer Maguy Marin.

After founding his own company in 2011, Yoann Bourgeois creates his very first show, Cavale, a hypnotic spectacle that explores the notion of vertigo and fear of heights, as well as the relationship between the eternal and the temporary. The success of this show is immediate, and Yoann Bourgeois is invited to present it around the world. In 2012, he initiates a new project based on Johann Sebastian Bach’s Art of the Fugue. The short format of these ingenious musical works gives him the opportunity to completely revisit and transform the traditions and codes of the circus world, bringing them to a new and radical language.

In 2017, he creates a unique installation for one of France’s most important national monuments, the Panthéon in Paris. Named The Mechanics of History, this epic art work wishes to question and revisit our historical notions and understandings. As part of this installation, he creates his now famous “staircases”, revealing mysterious dancers that take part in a surrealistic ballet of jumps and falls. His very last creation, The Man who Falls was premiered in 2017 and hailed by critics across Europe. In this hypnotic new show, six dancers try to defy the rules of gravity, moving on a floor that never stops turning around itself at a fast pace.

In 2017, Yoann Bourgeois was appointed as co-director of the Grenoble National Choreographic Center in France.

MATTHIEU STEFFANUS

Thanks to his audacity, virtuosity, and intellect, clarinetist Mathieu Steffanus has enchanted audiences across Europe as soloist and chamber musician. His repertoire, of extraordinary richness, spans from the 18th century to avant-garde and contemporary music.

He is regularly invited to perform as part of the world’s most important orchestras, such as the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the BBC Symphony, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, and the Paris National Opera Orchestra. A prizewinner in many international competitions, he studied with Armand Angster and Michel Arrignon at the Paris National Conservatory.

As a soloist and chamber musician, he has performed in numerous festivals and venues across Europe and Asia. Also passionate about Baroque music, he frequently collaborates with ensembles and orchestras such La Chambre Philharmonique and Les Siècles. A specialist in the field of contemporary music, he is frequently invited to perform with the renowned Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris, the Klangforum Wien Ensemble in Vienna, as well as with the Arditti Quartet. In addition, he takes part in various shows created by the composer Georges Aperghis, such as The Red Riding Hood, which he performed overs one hundred fifty times all over Europe.

He has been a clarinetist at the Geneva Camerata since the orchestra’s birth, in 2013.

DAVID GREILSAMMER

Known for his eclectic and fascinating programmes, conductor and pianist David Greilsammer is recognised as one of today’s most audacious classical artists. The New York Times has recently awarded two of David Greilsammer’s albums as Recording of the Year, in addition to selecting his solo recital “Scarlatti:Cage:Sonatas” as one of the ten most important musical events of the year.

Praised as creator of numerous ground-breaking musical projects, ranging from baroque to contemporary music, David Greilsammer has also been celebrated for his Mozart performances. He has performed in Paris all of Mozart’s piano sonatas in a one-day “marathon” and recently, he has played and conducted in Geneva all of Mozart’s twenty-seven piano concertos, in one season. In the past years, David Greilsammer has released four recordings on the Naïve label, and more recently, three prize-winning albums on the Sony Classical label.

Since 2013, David Greilsammer serves as Music and Artistic Director of the Geneva Camerata (GECA). With this adventurous ensemble, he gives over thirty-five concerts per season, including international tours that have taken him and the ensemble to venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Kings Place in London, NCPA in Beijing, Oriental Art Center in Shanghai, and Centro Nacional de las Artes in Mexico. David Greilsammer and GECA regularly collaborate with dancers, choreographers, actors, visual artists, as well as jazz, world, rock, and folk musicians.

David Greilsammer has recently performed as guest conductor/soloist with the BBC Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, Hamburg Symphony, Milano La Verdi Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Mexico National Symphony Orchestra, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony. He has also given solo recitals at the Wigmore Hall in London, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Verbier Festival, Salle Flagey in Brussels, Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, and Kennedy Center in Washington.